Cassidy clashes with Trump over Iran war powers in tense meeting

Bill Cassidy clashed with Donald Trump in a closed-door Senate Republican lunch on Wednesday, pressing the president over Iran and the limits of war powers as the party wrestled with how far Trump could act without Congress. The Louisiana Republican said Trump raised his voice and told him to sit down after the dispute turned personal.

Cassidy said the confrontation grew out of a deeper frustration: he and other senators had not been fully briefed on the administration’s case for military action in Iran. After the meeting, he said, “He raised his voice. I lost my temper. That’s not appropriate. It’s the Irish in me, but I again matched his tone and his volume.” He added, “I make no apologies for standing up to the president,” and said he was standing up for the American people.

The clash came after a fast-moving Senate fight over Iran war powers. On Tuesday, the chamber approved a Democrat-led resolution aimed at limiting the president’s ability to order further military action in Iran without congressional approval, with four Republicans joining the effort. On Wednesday night, senators rejected a similar Democratic measure 47-50. The underlying legislation was S.J.Res. 185, with an earlier related measure listed as S.J.Res. 104.

Cassidy said he passed a note to Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff asking for a briefing and saying he might change his vote because he had not been briefed. Witkoff responded, “Call me back in the hour and let’s have a briefing,” and Cassidy said that briefing took place that night. Afterward, Cassidy opposed the later Democratic push, saying the administration now had a plausible plan to achieve its goals: degrading Iran’s nuclear capability, ballistic missiles and conventional warfare capabilities.

Trump had backed Rep. Julia Letlow in Cassidy’s Louisiana Senate primary, and Cassidy lost that race in May. After the break, Trump called Cassidy a “disloyal disaster” and a “sleazebag.” Cassidy, one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial after Jan. 6, has also been among the party’s most visible critics on Iran, calling Trump’s approach to the nuclear question “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.”

Trump also showed disdain for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and her late arrival to the lunch added to the awkwardness before she said she had a previously scheduled event.